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Sunday, January 16, 2011

26/72

It took me two weeks to finish The Champlain Road. Not because it was long, but because - I don't know, it was dense or something. The Champlain Road is a work of historical fiction - it is to Canadian history what The Other Boleyn Girl is to Tudor history. Except without any sexytimes. It is somewhat outlandish, and very romantic.

I rather enjoyed the two women in the story, and the ideas about women, and ladies, and heathen ladies. On one hand there was a Huron woman - hyper-sexualized (predatory, even), violent, a heathen (of course!). Then there is the white woman - raised by the Iroquois - a warrior with them, but once with the Jesuits and the French, instantly a lady! She likes sewing! Immediately! It must be one of those inherent white lady things - the Sewing Instinct. It takes her a little while to get used to the curtsy, and her new clothes, but eventually she learns how to be a good girl - not so Iroquois-y, you know. Anyway, assuming you won't be reading it, the white woman becomes a real lady and a man falls in love with her, and the Huron woman gets killed with an axe to the head. That's what happens to heathen over-sexed girls.